Page 11 of Embers of You
“Hi, sorry, I was…sorry.” I shake my head while grabbing my card reader that plugs into my phone.
“Checking out the view over there?” she asks with a smirk. “Hard to not miss, huh?”
I shake my head. “No, I was just cleaning up. How does she look?” I bring the conversation back to her dog.
Mallory crouches down to examine the excited puppy who won’t stay still long enough for her to get a good look. “She’s decent.”
“Glad you approve, it’ll just be fifty today,” I tell her, entering the information into my phone so she can pay.
She hands over her card, and I start to run it when she starts talking again.
“Looks like Jameson’s working today.”
I give a small hum of agreeance while focusing on the phone.
“He and I used to date.”
I can tell she’s trying to get a reaction from me, and I have to work to hide the pang of jealousy I’m feeling though, I don’t know why. I have nothing to be jealous of, the man is at least ten years older than me and clearly has a past. I’m not even in his present or future so it doesn’t matter.
“Then he left, and I didn’t want to do long distance. He was so torn up over our breakup, but I just couldn’t do it. Maybe now that he’s back, I’ll give him another chance.”
I finally finish ringing her up, handing her card back while trying to hide the slight tremble of my hands. I refuse to acknowledge anything she’s saying to me.
“Thank you for coming in, I hope you have a good rest of your day,” I say through a fake smile.
She looks me up and down, her gaze slow and deliberate, and I can’t help but shift uncomfortably under the weight of it. I know I look like a mess—disheveled hair, rumpled clothes, exhaustion written all over me—but somehow, I feel even worse under her judgmental stare. “Let me know if you want to meet up for coffee sometime. I can fill you in on all the info you need in this town.”
With that as her parting words, she scoops up her dog before leaving.
I will most definitely be passing on that invitation. I think back to what Jameson said about not wanting friends in my new town. It’s not that I don’t want friends, it’s that I don’t think I can trust anyone to let them in like that.
Trish is nice. I don’t think we’re necessarily friends, but I’m not completely alone here. Which is also why I quickly finish cleaning up the salon so I can get home to Bennet. I’ve been here all day, and I know he’s going to need to go outside.
As I’m leaving, I look over at the fire station without much thought, and see Jameson is still outside with a few other people. He catches me looking and waves. I feel my cheeks warm as Ireturn the wave with a small one of my own before getting into my Jeep and taking off.
Bennet greets me with a wagging tail as I walk through the front door. I immediately open up the back door for him, and he runs out to do his business. The cool ocean air whips at my hair, and I can’t help the feelings that seem to take over as I let the reality of what my life is crash over me.
I left everything I’ve ever known to come to this place where I don’t know anyone or anything to start fresh. But that was the point, wasn’t it? A fresh start. A chance to escape the past that had unraveled so brutally before me. The people closest to me betrayed me in a way I never would have expected, so trusting anyone after that is not something that will come easily.
Walking into my parents’ house. My house. Seeing my best friend, and…I let out a loud sound of disgust. Bennet looks up at me like he’s wondering what I’m doing. I wave him off.
“Don’t worry about me, bud, do what you need to do.”
He goes back to sniffing to find the perfect spot to go to the bathroom and I just look up at the sky. Everything will work out. I have to believe that. I didn’t walk away from everything just to crumble now. I don’t need any of them in my life, not after that.
CHAPTER 6
Jameson
I’m exhaustedat the end of my shift, but I need to go to the grocery store and do some stuff around my parent’s property before I’m going to get a chance to sleep. The first thing I do when I walk in the store is grab an energy drink out of the small fridge before I grab the few items I need for myself and others for my parents.
I push the cart through the aisles, gulping down the energy drink as I go. I turn down another aisle, and that’s when I see her holding a basket in the crook of her arm. She’s chewing at her thumb while staring at the shelves in front of her.
Smiling, I watch her for a beat before approaching. I just saw her yesterday but seeing her again so soon has an unfamiliar feeling bubbling up.
“We’ve gotta stop meeting like this,” I joke.
Sutton jumps slightly before turning toward me, a smile she tries to suppress on her lips. “Stalker, much?”
